Can you use the Vital Strike feat off of a pounce? Pounce allows you to take a full attack after a charge, and the vital strike feat allows you to make 1 attack at increased damage. I agree that If I COULD pounce and use vital strike, only 1 attack would happen, but the technical rules question I'm asking is "can you use an "attack action" as the wording of the Vital Strike feat in place of a full round attack action?"
No.
By the book, Vital Strike takes an Attack Action. It's an unfortunate term, because that doesn't mean any Attack: 'Attack Action' is a Standard Action.
(it isn't one of the six actions PF accepts and lists as an action, but it is nevertheless used to define VS and a couple of other things).
So, you can't combine VS with any attack that isn't a Standard Action. You can't use it on an AoO or full attack (so no Pounce), nor on a charge (which in 3.5 allowed an attack but not an attack action...confusing, eh). Depending on how PF gets erratad, you might be able to VS on a Spring Attack or Shot on the Run (because in 3.5, those allow Attack Actions).
That's the clearest I can get it as things stand.
You can always houserule it to work once a round. That's what I'm doing, and it sounds like you're thinking along the lines I was when I did.
(edit: I also can't find anything about swapping a full-round action for a standard, though you can do that with a standard for a move)